With only a few minutes to go … A Black Latex Dress Photo Shoot

In the last 5 minutes of our ‘In the Garden of Dragons‘ shoot, we were told the gates of our location were shutting. Sam quickly and expertly changed into a bonus outfit she had brought with her – a black latex dress! It was only intended for the shot below; a corridor composition with added light from the camera-left-side.

However, with just a couple of minutes to go I told her I also “REALLY REALLY” had to get a shot in with the stairways (situated right behind me). I had to think quickly on my feet regarding lighting and composition, but I’m pleased with the results. Scroll down to see behind-the-scenes…

Behind The Scenes:

I thought it might be nice to share my thought process behind the stairway shot. I wanted to exaggerate the light coming in from the top, rather than planting some sort of new and fake light source from the sides or below.

With that in mind, I very quickly instructed my assistant to run up the stairs and hold the light directly above Sam’s head. The left picture below shows a shot without the added light – and on the right, with quite a large direct light. And as black aborbs light, I was left with very intentional pockets of light and harsh highlights on Sam’s body and dress.

All this added to a more dramatic contrast which then paved the way for me to add some post-production fog/light-rays!